Loss of 49ers will be big hit to S.F. budget

When the 49ers leave the city they’ve called home for nearly seven decades, fans won’t be the only ones missing them.

The football team’s departure for the South Bay means it will cease to be a huge economic driver in San Francisco, where it has generated millions of dollars annually for the parks, tourism industry and general tax base. And it will leave Candlestick Park to be demolished.

After talking about it for years, the National Football League franchise will officially start its exit Thursday, when construction workers break ground on a $1.2 billion, 68,500-seat stadium next to the Great America theme park in Santa Clara. It is expected to open by fall 2014.

In San Francisco, the agency that will take the biggest and most direct hit is the Recreation and Park Department, which operates Candlestick Park.

“It leaves us with a significant hole that the city family will have to figure out how to fill,” said spokeswoman Sarah Ballard.

As the team won its division and hosted two playoff games last season, it generated $9.6 million in rent, ticket sales, parking, advertising and other areas, according to the department. The agency netted about $3.5 million after paying for expenses like staff and maintenance, said Ballard, noting that the figure was lower during less successful seasons.

And non-Niners events in Candlestick Park, including film and television shoots and soccer games, brought the department an additional $350,000 last season.

That money has gone toward programs and services throughout the city’s parks, from paying gardeners and custodians to fixing broken swing sets and offering swim lessons.

That loss will be difficult to reconcile with the department’s financial woes. From its annual budget of $128 million, it is trying to cut $3.3 million in expenses in the new fiscal year that starts July 1, and $2.5 million the following year, per Mayor Ed Lee’s instructions. The department has also been asked to set aside another $796,000 in savings next year as a contingency.

“We’ve experienced five years of significant budget cuts,” Ballard said, “and we’re trying to stave off the impact to the public of reduced services by continuing to earn more revenue.”

Making up the loss won’t be simple; the department has endured criticism for its money-making ideas, including trying to bring Blue Bottle Coffee to Dolores Park. The proposal died in the face of community outcry. The department does not have a concrete plan to compensate for the Niners’ departure.

Parks aside, the team generated an additional $4.1 million in annual direct and indirect tax revenue for San Francisco, according to preliminary projections from the city controller’s office. That includes fans spending $650,000 at stores, restaurants and hotels.

Those days are numbered. So are those of Candlestick Park.

The stadium and the surrounding 702-acre area are slated to be replaced by the Hunters Point Shipyard project, which the city approved in 2010. The redevelopment plan calls for homes, open space and space for office, retail, and research and development.

Once the 49ers officially notify San Francisco they’re moving, the developer, Lennar Corp., will no longer be obligated to include a plan for a stadium, which the city had offered to the Niners as an alternative to Candlestick Park. The site of the current stadium will likely be replaced by 6,000 homes.

Lennar is waiting for the Navy to turn over land parcels. While it is not contractually obligated to start building until 2020, company officials said they may speed up the timetable.

A site without a stadium will be just one of many new aspects of life in a post-Niners city. Mayor Ed Lee, who for months has publicly held out the faint hope that the team would stay in San Francisco, recently acknowledged that will not be the case.

“Yes, we have lost the 49ers playing their games in the city in a few years,” Lee told the audience at the Commonwealth Club on Tuesday. “And I’ll admit it, it stung a bit.”

But Lee said the blow was softened by the upcoming America’s Cup regatta in 2013 and the Golden State Warriors‘ exploration of arena sites in the city. He said the basketball team is looking into moving across the bay from Oakland.

“Then there’s this NBA franchise that wants to be part of the success of this city,” Lee said. “I want to welcome them. … I’m not going to ever apologize for grabbing somebody else’s team. Someone did it to us.”

Chronicle staff writer John Coté contributed to this report.

A lot to lose

The 49ers generated:

$9.6 million

… in gross revenue for the S.F. Recreation and Park Department in the 2011 season.

$4.1 million

… in annual direct and indirect tax revenue for city on projected average.